Corwin Brown charged with three felonies, has brain trauma symptoms

Corwin Brown has been charged with three felonies after a seven-hour standoff with police last week.

Brown, who played at Michigan and was an assistant coach at Virginia and Notre Dame, was hospitalized after the incident with a self-inflicted gun wound to the torso. He is expected to recover from his injuries.

Indiana prosecutors have charged Brown with domestic battery for bruising his wife during the disturbance and two counts of confinement for allegedly holding her hostage with a handgun.

Police said Monday that Brown is currently in a secured facility receiving on-going medical treatment.

The Brown family issued a statement Tuesday, saying it believes Brown, a former NFL player with the Jets and Patriots, is suffering from the same brain trauma symptoms that affected Dave Duerson.

"Many are asking, what would cause a young man who has been blessed beyond all measure, with a life so promising that he would put himself and his family in harm's way? We believe Corwin is suffering from symptoms similar to those experienced by the late Dave Duerson and were caused by the many notable collisions during Corwin's career in the NFL. For those reasons, Corwin chose to not disclose his symptoms, as he did not want to bring shame to any coach, team, organization, or the NFL.

"We can no longer remain silent and we believe it is important that his former teams, teammates, coaches and the NFL to understand the severity of this situation. As a result, we have reached out to neurologist Dr. Robert Cantu in Boston to request a consultation with Corwin and our family. We are hopeful that we can connect soon and he will agree to help Corwin and our family. Certainly, we realize there will be a significant financial cost to bear, and we offer our plea for help."

To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

About Erick Smith

Erick Smith has managed USA TODAY's online college football coverage and picked
games on the web for the last 11 years. He's been a fan of the sport going back
to the days when the Big 12 and the BCS didn't exist and all the New Year's
Day games were actually played on New Year's Day. More
about Erick.

About Nicole Auerbach

Nicole Auerbach joined USA TODAY in the fall of 2011 to oversee online college
basketball coverage. She's a New Jersey native and a big fan of Big Ten football
and basketball. She firmly believes Madness need not be limited to just March.
More
about Nicole.